Dear Paris,
It’s really quite unfair of you to be so lovely on the day we had to leave.
We had gotten quite comfortable in our little hotel, with the tiniest elevator I’ve ever seen, and the charming but odd gentleman who manned the front desk.
And the bakery!
A girl could get used to getting tasty sandwiches and pain au chocolat every morning, at a charming shop just steps from her front door.
The gorgeous architecture…
The beautiful language…
… and you weren’t nearly so rude as they told me you’d be.
In fact, we were quite charmed by you.
But leave, we must.
After all, the true reason for this trip was business, and our client sadly was not located in France.
But don’t worry, Paris. We’ll remember you fondly.
(Especially your food!)
But for now, we’re off…
To Stuttgart!
On our last evening in France, we decided to go to another nearby restaurant – Les Cocottes.
We had heard it can be difficult to get into, so we were there before it opened for dinner service, and got a seat at the bar right away.
We started with the salade roquette – a salad with rocket, poached egg, bacon, and balsalmic vinegar. A must-order!
I’m pretty sure this is the first time in my entire life that I’ve ever been crazy about a salad.
As seems to be our theme in Paris, we tried the foie gras de canard again – tasty, as always.
Between this and the foie gras we had at 7eme Vin, Les Cocottes’ foie gras was our favorite.
Son picked out the cocotte pomme de terre – potatoes stuffed with pork trotters. It may sound a little odd, but it was an excellent choice.
We also ordered the cocotte de palourdes – pasta with clams – which wasn’t bad, but we weren’t nearly as crazy about it as we were the other dishes.
However, while the entire meal was fantastic, the real winner was dessert. We shared their demi gaufre – a waffle with chantilly cream and salted caramel.
We were practically licking the plate by the end of it, the caramel was so good. We got the half portion, but definitely should have gone for the full portion.
We seriously considered getting a second waffle, but decided that would be overdoing it.
BIGGEST REGRET OF THE ENTIRE TRIP.
After a fantastic, flawless meal… their entire payment system went down! The chef – Christian Constant – even showed up, trying to help them get it fixed.
It was all to no avail, but luckily they had a sister restaurant just a few doors down, so the waitress was able to take us over there to pay.
After dinner, it was a warm, pleasant night, so we took one last stroll around the area – determined to take advantage of our last night in France.
Goodnight, Paris!
My wanderings around my world this week started with…
Sleeping for 11 hours straight, then laying in bed listening to the rain.
The quiet before classes begin.
Dinner with a good friend that I see far too infrequently.
Working on logic puzzles while listening to Son have an existential crisis about his code (and trying not to laugh too hard at him).
Matcha latte with soy milk and honey.
It’s a baby bell pepper!
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Where are you wandering this week?
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My wanderings around my world this week started with…
Pie-making.
Thai food.
A couple favorites that we get every time.
And a new-to-us dish – a delicious Thai version of the Vietnamese hu tieu that we adore.
This was really good.
Freezing my shoulder off at physical therapy.
Bought a screen for our bathroom window. Screen turned out to be just barely too large. After much screen manipulation and jamming, somehow managed to actually get the screen in without breaking it!
No, we do not live in a forest, it just looks that way.
Salmon sashimi.
Separating eggs.
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Where are you wandering this week?
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Across the river from the Notre Dame, we took to the streets, wandering Le Marais.
The contrast to chilly, rainy London was quite striking – it was so warm in Paris that day, we decided to stop for gelato!
We got a three-scoop cup of vanilla, mango, and passionfruit gelato. Refreshing, and really delicious – we almost went back for more, but a huge line had formed after we bought ours.
More wandering – I love finding these little nooks of greenery in the middle of a city.
It was already getting late in the day, so we took the Batobus back to the Eiffel Tower, and stopped by our hotel long enough to eat the vanilla eclair with speculoos filling (omg so good!) before heading out to dinner.
